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Produce => Edible Plants => Topic started by: gerbera on April 09, 2012, 18:54:29
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With the new lottie, I now have space to grow squashes/pumpkins, but there are so many varieties that I'm spoilt for choice.
What are your recommendations? ???
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I bought one packet of each of the squashes from here:
http://www.realseeds.co.uk/wintersquash.html
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Have a look at this page for the best that I have grown and tasted:- http://www.growyourown.info/page127.html
I have just cooked Crown Prince tonight and it is superb. Almost too good for my Pumpkin Pie which is in the oven as I write!!
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Every other one from here.. http://www.plant-world-seeds.com/store/view_squashes_pumpkins?page=1 ... ;D
Particularly black futsu, delicata, galeux d'eusine, pink banana, muscat de provence, queensland blue, red warty..and, and,.. ;D
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Errrrr....WOW! You guys grow LOTS of pumpkins! :o
Can we whittle it down to a couple of 'must-have' varieties? I only have 1/2 plot! ;D
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Could you grow up a trellis or support of some sort
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Errrrr....WOW! You guys grow LOTS of pumpkins! :o
Can we whittle it down to a couple of 'must-have' varieties? I only have 1/2 plot! ;D
You should grow crown prince. Last year my butternuts were rubbish! Sowed first lot of squash last weekend and will sow the rest next weekend if the seeds come in.time. due to.our new plots which we have taken on. I am having a pumpkin patch that is about 9 meters by 4 metres
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Oh NP you know how to upset a girl, your pumpkin patch is half the size of our half plot ::). Very envious of you.
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Oh NP you know how to upset a girl, your pumpkin patch is half the size of our half plot ::). Very envious of you.
It's a curates egg. We wanted an extra plot. Someone had died and had done some work to create a lovely plot with shed.fruit cagea and a caravan. However attached to this plot was another overgrown plot ( which we had to take) that had been used as a rubbish tip, with some fruit trees. This is going to be a long hard aloft to get using. However this summer we are dig lots of holes fill with manure then fill with manure for squash etc
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Could you grow up a trellis or support of some sort
Be careful if growing up trellis. Lost one of my big uns to high wind - well it would have been a big un if it hadn't snapped off the growing end.
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I mostly grow squash for storage and Blue Banana and Thelma Sanders from Real Seeds did very well for me last year. I still have a Blue Banana left in storage. I gave some of the Thelma Sanders away and my work mates roasted it and were surprised that squash tastes so good roasted.
I grew Sucrine du Berry also and though it only produced two fruit they smelled like melon when I cut into them and were tasty.
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My favourites are Bon Bon, Delicata and Tromba d'Albenga. I grow them all up canes and they do very well.
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I grow the lovely red onion and huge pink banana squash. Last year I harvested so many we have been eating them since last october and should finish them in june. :)
Will be growing the same varieties this year but would like to grow the delicata squash at some stage.
Have fun with your squash they are one of the most productive vegetables (fruits) you can grow.
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THe buttercup squash bon-bon is the tastiest I've ever grown (and I've grown a fair few over the years) but the sanest adn most reliable is festival.... Bon-bon isn't sane due to its invasive nature, it grows about a foot a day, sometimes more when it's happy, and is perfectly capable of holding a 4lb fruit on a chickenwire fence... so it has strangle-capable tendrils.... also for me the fruits are a bit big... but it's so sweet I'd be tempted to keep it for making pumpkin pie or cheesecake...
festival makes smaller fruits (easier for me to use) and sets five or six per plant, is getting them ripe by the end of August (so isn't hostage to the weather in September) ...havin issues with space). apart from pumpkins, courgettes adn gherkins it's all I'll be growing this year out doors from the cucurbits... and I have been a keen multi-squash grower in the past.... It tastes better for a few montsh in store, and it keeps for ever... as an experiment I kept a 2010 one to see how long it would last.... it crumpled about four weeks ago.... so that's 18 months sat in my kitchen on a shelf.....
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Hooligan and jack be little will climb, potimarron and uchi kuri are really reliable and taste nice , too ;D
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Seeds ordered :)
I have opted for Crown Prince, Delicata and Uchi Kuri.
Might need to think about building supports to preserve some of the plot for other crops though! :-\
Thanks for all of your help guys!
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The buttercups are superb, for example BonBon if you grow F1s or buttercup Waltham or bush buttercup if you want open pollinated varieties for seedsaving. Smaller fruits and very tasty indeed. Still have one storing on the windowsill, they last well too. They are cucurbita maxima and will cross with other maximas.
Thelma Sanders is nice too, but should be eaten before Christmas. Again a smaller squash one of the acorn squashes, a cucurbita pepo. This type is sometimes called 'autumn squash' because they don't last as well as the winter squashes.
Uchiki Kuri are nice too (aka onion squash), Potimarron, Queensland Blue, Marina di Chioggia and the hybrid Crown Prince. These are bigger, family sized, very tasty and long storing. For eating after Christmas. All are c maxima. Some of the fruits here store without problem until the seeds are sown for next year's crop :)
We also love Tromboncino aka Tromba d'Albenga, Trombetta etc. These are cucurbita moschata (the same family as butternut squash) but a bit easier to grow than butternuts as they don't require quite as much sunshine and warm weather. They make large 'snakey' fruits with a bulbous end. All the seeds are in the bulbous end, the very long neck is very easy to slice. They can be used both as summer squash (like courgettes) or left to mature as winter squash. As winter squash they have bright orange flesh. I still have a couple on the windowsill at the moment, they keep well. The fruits grow straighter if you grow them hanging down, on the ground they will curl.
Lots of favourites here ;D they are so tasty and help with year round food gardening because many store so well.
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Another vote here for Tromba d'albenga. Great flavour. Seeds up one end so lots of flesh to eat. Can be eaten in slices for days. Can be grown up support. Keep well, I have still got one left to eat.
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Best Storer has to be the Qld Blue - I only just finished my last one, in great shape but stored so long it had gone orange!!! It has a beaut taste. Although goodlife put me on to black futsu last year and I admit they are also great eating.
I have not tried Crown Prince but this year will do a Marina Di Choggi and a Uchiki kuri.
Canes sounds adventurous, but a couple of pallets dug in and leaned together at a steep angle has worked for me. It does save a little space. I also plant very close to the edge of the plot and let the vines run down the side. They spill a little onto teh path but no one seems to mind and they get good warmth that way too.
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thanks to a few of you kind, generous folksters on here (elsie, davejp, anemone, winecap ;D ;D) i've got a few that i can sow this yr. here are my choices (some i had already and gifted elsewhere) :-
rolet - green hubbard - sweet dumpling - burgess buttercup - thelma saunders - blue ballet - crown prince - uchi kuri - kabocha - potimarron - red onion - mixed summer scallop - zap something - badnangnani something.
what someone said to me recently was that i would have to plant 2 of each variety in order for them to not cross-pollinate and if some groups are different, then they should be grown separately from each other. is that true, and how far apart. can someone classify which of the above are from diff groups. i do know that most of the seed is saved, and i don't think they were hand-pollinated. only 2 have been shop bought (new this yr by myself).
orig. i decided i'll grow about 10 of them, then realised that'll be far too many for just myself to cook for, but then realised that the reason i liked them is their ornamental aspect and lastly that that they'll last for a long time in storage. so with a mixture of these factors, i'm going to grow about 6 or so. four down the edge of a bed and trailled along a hedge. the other two varieties i'd like to do the same along another bed and trailled/forced into a spiral along the grassy path. how much manure do each plant like to produce a decent crop? do some larger varieties fare better than others yield-wise (potimarron, blue ballet, sweet dumpling, red kuri, rolet/buttercup/kabocha?
thanks.... :P
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I've still got a Bon Bon (or Cha Cha, mixed them up a bit) and a Crown Prince waiting to be eaten - still perfectly sound and great ornaments. VERY hard to get into Crown Prince, guess that's why it keeps so well, and each one big enough to feed an army.
Find Uchiki Kuri tastes good but doesn't keep so well.
No success with Butternuts, they mature too late.
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Irridium, different varieties will be cross-pollinated by the bees, and any seed saved will not come true to type. Each variety carries both male and female flowers. They are all greedy feeders so give them what you can.
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This year I am going to try growing Spaghetti Squash . Apparently very simple to cook ..pierce the top and bottom and boil for half an hour , cut in half , remove seeds , scrape out the hot steaming long spaghetti like fibres , add butter and grated cheese. ooh! Cant wait ! ;D
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rolet - green hubbard - sweet dumpling - burgess buttercup - thelma saunders - blue ballet - crown prince - uchi kuri - kabocha - potimarron - red onion - mixed summer scallop - zap something - badnangnani something.
what someone said to me recently was that i would have to plant 2 of each variety in order for them to not cross-pollinate and if some groups are different, then they should be grown separately from each other. is that true, and how far apart. can someone classify which of the above are from diff groups. i do know that most of the seed is saved, and i don't think they were hand-pollinated. only 2 have been shop bought (new this yr by myself).
thanks.... :P
rolet - cucurbita pepo
green hubbard - cucurbita maxima
sweet dumpling - c pepo
burgess buttercup - c maxima
thelma saunders - c pepo
blue ballet - crown prince - uchi kuri - kabocha - potimarron - red onion - all c. maxima
mixed summer scallop - c pepo
zap something - Zapallito ? c maxima
badnangnani something. - don't know what this might be
Any c pepo can cross with another c pepo, any maxima with another of the same species, any c moschata with another moschata. It is very rare for a moschata to cross with a maxima or pepo (can be done in the lab, but doesn't happen naturally). Your sweet dumpling will happily cross with next-door's courgette (which is also c pepo) and so on.
1 plant is theoretically enough because there are male and female flowers on every plant and you can (or bees can) pollinate a female flower with pollen from a male flower from the same plant. If there is any question of purity it is recommended to self-pollinate from the same plant. For diversity it is better to pollinate with pollen from another plant, but not essential. It is almost always essential to prevent both male and female flowers from opening naturally, then handpollinating and closing the female flower again to prevent bees bringing other pollen. These flowers are very large and bees love them and fly a long distance to pollinate them. Unless you live isolated and nobody for half a mile in all directions grows a squash of the same family, you can't be sure that they haven't been crossed. This is why isolating the flowers (taping shut before they open naturally) and handpollinating are almost always necessary to produce pure seeds.
However, there is nothing wrong with growing a squash from crossed seeds, it just is not predictable what the resulting squash will look or taste like.
Seedsaving instructions for squashes:
http://www.realseeds.co.uk/courgettes.html
(scroll to the bottom of the page)
HTH
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My favourites are Bon Bon, Delicata and Tromba d'Albenga. I grow them all up canes and they do very well.
I agree with Betty with regards to Bon Bon.
Last year I grew: Tuffy Sweet, Thelma Sanders, Uchiki Kuri, Hooligan and Spaghetti Squash and the year before that I grew Black Futsu.
Here is my harvest: http://www.bigpumpkins.com/Diary/DiaryViewOne.asp?eid=169661
The only ones that were every bit as good as the reviews were Bon Bon and Black Futsu and Hooligan although my favorites are the first two
Bon Bon is exquisitively sweet but not over sweet and black futsu as amazing creamy/nutty flavour. I will only grow these for a while now.
The Bon Bon grew very well up a strong support and my two plants yielded 5 fruits. Hope they do better this year!
Best of luck with whatever you decide
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This year I am going to try growing Spaghetti Squash . Apparently very simple to cook ..pierce the top and bottom and boil for half an hour , cut in half , remove seeds , scrape out the hot steaming long spaghetti like fibres , add butter and grated cheese. ooh! Cant wait ! ;D
They are very easy to cook and I yielded a dozen on 2 plants and the fruits can get quite large.
I split mine lengthways, removed the seeds and popped one half in the microwave for 10 mins and then simply scooped and ate. I even forgot about one I started and when I went to put my milk in the microwave before bed time I found a cooked spaghetti squash that I had forgotten and it tasted just as good cold!
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This year I am trying Crown Prince, and Uchiki Kuri, the later I am going to try up a wigwam.
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rolet - cucurbita pepo
green hubbard - cucurbita maxima
sweet dumpling - c pepo
burgess buttercup - c maxima
thelma saunders - c pepo
blue ballet - crown prince - uchi kuri - kabocha - potimarron - red onion - all c. maxima
mixed summer scallop - c pepo
zap something - Zapallito ? c maxima
badnangnani something. - don't know what this might be
Any c pepo can cross with another c pepo, any maxima with another of the same species, any c moschata with another moschata. It is very rare for a moschata to cross with a maxima or pepo (can be done in the lab, but doesn't happen naturally). Your sweet dumpling will happily cross with next-door's courgette (which is also c pepo) and so on.
1 plant is theoretically enough because there are male and female flowers on every plant and you can (or bees can) pollinate a female flower with pollen from a male flower from the same plant. If there is any question of purity it is recommended to self-pollinate from the same plant. For diversity it is better to pollinate with pollen from another plant, but not essential. It is almost always essential to prevent both male and female flowers from opening naturally, then handpollinating and closing the female flower again to prevent bees bringing other pollen. These flowers are very large and bees love them and fly a long distance to pollinate them. Unless you live isolated and nobody for half a mile in all directions grows a squash of the same family, you can't be sure that they haven't been crossed. This is why isolating the flowers (taping shut before they open naturally) and handpollinating are almost always necessary to produce pure seeds.
However, there is nothing wrong with growing a squash from crossed seeds, it just is not predictable what the resulting squash will look or taste like. [/quote]
sorry for being a ditz, but that means i wouldn't be able to grow more than one variety from each group, right? so that means just one plant from each group, or can i grow more than one but have them far apart at some distance?
thanks for taking the trouble to help me out here with the self-pollination guide. it looks a bit complicated, but i'll try and make a concerted effort to do that...
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sorry for being a ditz, but that means i wouldn't be able to grow more than one variety from each group, right? so that means just one plant from each group, or can i grow more than one but have them far apart at some distance? just right..or do 'artificial' pollination by hand. It really is easy to do..just a little hassle to keep tying the flowers but it is quicly done and as long as you remember to keep each pollinated flower labeled you've got loads of free seeds for yourself to grow and swap.. ;)
And you can still eat the fruit after saving the seeds! ;D
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I still have a Triamble grown in 2009.. this is a record for me.
XX Jeannine
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I still have a Triamble grown in 2009.. this is a record for me.
XX Jeannine
Wow..do you think it is still edible? I'm going to grow some triamble this year..nice to know they are good storers.
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sorry for being a ditz, but that means i wouldn't be able to grow more than one variety from each group, right? so that means just one plant from each group, or can i grow more than one but have them far apart at some distance?
thanks for taking the trouble to help me out here with the self-pollination guide. it looks a bit complicated, but i'll try and make a concerted effort to do that...
You are not a ditz. :) You can grow to eat without any precautions. If you stick a pure uchiki kuri seed into the ground and that plant gets cross pollinated by crown prince pollen, the resulting fruit is still uchiki kuri. The only bit that gets crossed is the germ inside the seed.
But, if you want to harvest pure uchiki kuri seeds, there cannot be another maxima squash around for half a mile or you risk crossing by bees. Because it is normally near impossible to tell whether or not there is another squash of the same species which could crosspollinate your uchiki kuri, it is always safer to isolate and handpollinate. And the same of course applies to c pepo and c moschata varieties respectively.
You can have as many plants of uchiki kuri as you want, not just the one. if you handpollinate a true breeding, pure uchiki kuri with pollen from another pure uchiki kuri plant, you will get true breeding uchiki kuri seed.
Hope this makes sense.
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My Triamble is not edible, it has sort of dehydrated but not rotted, it sits high on a book case top and looks very decorative. Having said that I have kept one from a fall harvest and used it very late in the summer the following year and it was OK.
XX Jeannine
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My Triamble is not edible, it has sort of dehydrated but not rotted Ah..like a ornamental squash...you did't treat the skin, but its dried naturally?
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At last...I've foraged through my seed selection.. ::) Played endless game of shuffling into 'no-yes-maybe' piles.
I still couldn't reduce the varieties for the space that I've got allocated for squash this year.. ::)..so I just have to sort something out and visit my good girls for their bedding and get that into ground for extra goodness.
So..2012 its going to be year for;
Lunga di Napoli
Baby green hubbard
Georgia candy rooster
Burgess buttercup
Sucrine du berry
Volzhskaya seraya 92
Triamble
The Warty thing
Zapallito
Gem squash Rolet
....and..then there is all the different courgettes.. ::)
badnangnani something. - don't know what this might beI came across 'something' in my seed box..found out it being Benincasa hispida=ash gourd =winter melon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_melon Could that be it?
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Am rather disappointed with some of the germination of squash i got from a seed place online
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what seeds were those?
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Am rather disappointed with some of the germination of squash i got from a seed place online
What seed company?
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Can anyone suggest the best squash/pumpkin for making soup please?
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Can anyone suggest the best squash/pumpkin for making soup please?
Absolutely any and definitely the best use for giant pumpkins or Halloween carvers etc, because the flavour of soup is mostly determined by the other ingredients and the consistency comes from 'blizzing' the soup after the pumpkin is soft. A dollop of cream and/or a splash of pumpkinseed or walnut oil will finish the soup nicely.
Having said the above, the queen of pumpkin soups must be butternut squash soup, very thick, lots of cream or greek yoghurt on top, ground pepper and a dash of a really nicely flavoured oil. Yum!
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mmm..yes, butternut squash soup. Unfortunately not so reliable to grow in Uk..I seem to have very little success with butternuts. :(
Last year I grew 'the warty thing' and I was positively surprised by them. I thought they would have been more of 'odd to look at'..but NO..really nice eaters. Just about firm enough for roasting and excellent for soup. Sort of texture between pumpkin and squash.
I did grow few for seed saving so I only allowed one fruit per plant. I don't know how they would 'turn out' once left to grow as they want..but those ones few did grow quite large with thick layer of flesh. I suspect without limiting the fruit set..they will be much useable size.
Gwynneth..if you want to try some 'the warty thing' squashes..send me your address in pm..
some info about 'warty' ones.. http://www.plant-world-seeds.com/store/view_seed_item/2438?actionName=view_squashes_pumpkins&itemname=RED+WARTY+PUMPKIN&page=2
..mine looked very much like the one in pic , in some sites the fruits in pics are covered with warts..mine only had odd few ones.
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Am rather disappointed with some of the germination of squash i got from a seed place online
What seed company?
I got the seeds from the real seed company in pembrokeshire. Only one of 5 festival has come up and the banana one has completely failed to put in an appearance.
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Real seeds.. :o..that's surprised. They are usually really good with their seeds.
Did you sow your seeds on their sides and not flat against the compost (like saucer)? Too much moisture in compost and not enough warmth will result them to rot quite easily.
Have you had a look into the compost for what the seeds look like? If they haven't gone 'mushy' yet..giving extra warmth may bring them to germination.
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Real seeds.. :o..that's surprised. They are usually really good with their seeds.
Did you sow your seeds on their sides and not flat against the compost (like saucer)? Too much moisture in compost and not enough warmth will result them to rot quite easily.
Have you had a look into the compost for what the seeds look like? If they haven't gone 'mushy' yet..giving extra warmth may bring them to germination.
Hi . Yes indeed they reviewed well. All planted on side and give bit mushy. Got the oil filled radiator on!! Maybe just a bad batch
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A buttercup/kaboucha variety (Dark green with silvery stripes) I grew Bon Bon last year and it was excellent and the person who stole my 5 big ones c. 1Kg one by one obviously thought so as they keep coming back >:(
Usually the smaller fruits aren't so good but the small ones of Bon Bon were very good just wish I'd got to eat the big ones. Problem of having a plot right at the front of a site with easy public access i.e. no fence
I'm losing my asparagus at the moment, I'm actually thinking it's not worth the work involved i've only had one bunch very early on. I see them coming up and I see where they've been cut.
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True, butternut is one of the trickiest to grow.
There are smaller, earlier types to look out for, such as butternut Ponca or some of the earlier hybrids. I find that tromboncino (tromba d'albenga) is as good, bigger and grows more easily. Also tromboncino can be grown upwards and is quite space saving. Much bigger harvest. Stores well too - still have 2 on the windowsill here, together with one buttercup, one Todo el An(tilde)o and one Sweet Meat.
Tromboncino turn yellow in storage like butternuts. These were freshly harvested and grown on the ground, this is why they were curly(I only hung them on the door for the photo :) ). They grow straight hanging down.
Sorry to hear about your troubles, Kea, really not fair.
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I planted out some Uchiki Kuri yesterday. I noted that someone said they weren't a good keeper. I have some unnamed plants grown from seed coming up and will discover how they do in due course. Thanks to the advice here I will have fun picking seed this autumn.
That pallet trick for training them sounds great; propping two pallets up against each other. I will try it.
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Interested to see that you can use tromboncino as winter squash. I grew them last year and treated them as courgettes. They were ok but wasn't going to do them again. Might have to now though, to store and eat later on!
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Interested to see that you can use tromboncino as winter squash. I grew them last year and treated them as courgettes. They were ok but wasn't going to do them again. Might have to now though, to store and eat later on!
Yes they keep well. Picture was taken a few minutes ago of the last 3 -Todo e A, Sweet Meat and Trombo. We are eating another Trombo at the moment and it is still very tasty, no deterioration. The other really nice feature is that there are no seeds at all in the long neck, the seed cavity is in the bulb You can peel them with an ordinary potato peeler, but the skin is soft enough not to bother. No need to peel if you roast them.
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As you use Trombo they ooze out a sweet gel which seals the end so you can use them a few slices at a time for over a week or more. I still have two. Very tasty. Much less wastage than normal squash.
Love them. Much more reliable than butternut and you do not need to fight with a hard shell to get at the flesh.?
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Could you grow up a trellis or support of some sort
I have noticed how they never want to stay where I put them , they want to run around and escape over the chicken wire fence . So this year I have made a slightly leaning , south facing frame for them to climb up , sort of like an assault course for squashes . I am trying Spaghetti squashes for the first time this year .